House



(No Model.)

A. G. WATERHOUSE.

OOMMUTATOR FOR DYNAMO ELECTRIC MACHINES.

No. 252,405. Patented Jan. 17,1882.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADDISON G. WATERHOUSE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIG NOR TO THE UNITED STATES ELECTRIC LIGHTING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

COMMUTATOR FOR DYNAMO-ELECTRIC MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 252,405, dated January 17, 1882,

Application filed April 2, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADDIsoN G. VVATER- HOUSE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Magneto or Dyna-mo Electric Machines, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,'is a specification. 1

1o My invention relates toimprovements inth'e commutators for magneto or dynamo electric" machines of a certain type, and to the methods of connecting up the armature-coils with the segments thereof, so that the current taken 011' will have the maximum electro-motive force of all or any predetermined number of coils by being caused to pass through the same in series; and the invention further relates to the devices employed in taking off the currents, 'saiddevices being composed of commutator rings and brushes, constructed and arranged in the manner hereinafter to be more fully described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a theoretical view of the commutator-rings, collecting and connecting brushes, showing the same in their proper relation when used in connection with an armature wound with three separatecoils. Fig. 2 is a view of one of the rings detached, and shown as composed'of two segments, to which the terminals of a coil are attached. Fig. 3, a detailed view of Fig. 4, which latter represents, in side elevation, acommutator for a three-coil armature. Fig. 5 is a View illustrating in detail the construction of the inside rings; Figs. 6 and 7, detached Views of a single ring; and Fig. 8, an illustration of a slightly modified form.

In the several figures, from 1 to 7, inclusive, are shown the rings, each one consisting of two segments,@ and I), insulated from each other in any proper manner, one of which is greater, the otherless, than halt the circum Terence. For each coil on the armature there is an independent ring, to the segments of which the ends ot' the coil are respectively attached. The segments may therefore be re garded simply as the terminalsof the coils to which they correspond, it being borne in mind that in general there will always be as many rings or pairs of segments as there are coils on the armature,and, from the nature of the case, a collecting-brush for each segment.

Referring more particularly to Figs.l,2, and 4, a commutator is shown which is adapted for use with a three-coil armature. In general appearance the commutator,when completed, resembles that shd'wn in Fig. 4, where the rings are shown fixed to a shaft and clamped together, with interposed disks of insulating material. The wires from the several coils pass through suitably-situated apertures in the two inside rings to connect with the opposite segments of the ring to which they belong, one of these coils being represented by the letter 00 in Fig 2.

For better purposes of illustation the several rings'are laid out side by side in Fig. 1,

to which reference is made; for an explanation of the operations of the commutator.

W represents the external circuit. of the machine, through which the current passes from one brush, as f, to the opposite brush, as a. The tings are secured to the shaft and to one another in such relation that when any two brushes are bearing on the opposite segments of a ring the coil correspondingis exertingits maximum electricaheffect, while the opposite is true-that is, they are producing the minimum amount of current, or,in other words, are passing the neutral pointwhen both brushes are in contact with the same segment. The relative lengths of the segments and the disposition ot the coils on the armature are such that two pairs of brushes will be in contact with the opposite segments and one pair with the same segment, while of the coils corresponding thereto two will be generating their maximum amount of current, while the third will be idle, or generating but little. This coil will therefore be cut out or short-circuited, as the case may be, the current from the preceding ring passing through the segment from one brush to the opposite one instead of through the coil. Thus in Fig. 1, assuming the current generated by the machine when in opera-- tion to start at segment a, from this point it passes through the coil to b, then through brush 1) to c, and from thence to segment d.

As the bobbin or coil corresponding to this.

ring is inactive at this point in its revolution, the brush d will also be in contact with seg ment (1. To it then the current passes, and thence to brush 0 and segment a, from thence through the coil connected therewith tof, and out, by way of brush], to line 10, and back to the starting-point a.

In Figs. 6 and 7 a modified form of ring is shown, in which both segments or plates extend beyond the center or around more than one-half of the ring. In this case the coil connecting each is at no time cutout, but imparts at all times its varying degrees of electrical force, while at the same time the main current, or that generated by the other coils, can be shunted through either or bothof the two segments whenever the resistance of the coil connecting the two segments is greater than the electro-motive force given out by the said coil.

Fig.8 shows other forms of the commutator, the equivalent to those already described. In these the plates or segments are of equal size, the cutting out or shunting being effected by means of the bearing strips or brushes. These,

. in one instance, are represented by 3 y, and

are composed of straight strips. One brush, 3 is stationary, the other, 3 made adjustable around the commutator, so as to come in contact with the same plate that brush y restsupon, by which means the same result is ob-' tained as-though the plates were of unequal size. In the second case strips 2 and'z may both be stationary, one or both being so constructed as to come in contact with one segment before leaving the other.

For better purposes of illustration I have shown a commutator adapted for use with three coils only; but the same invention may be applied to an armature of any number of coils, and where the coils are so numbered as to be divided into pairs at, or nearly at, right angles with each other, then it is possible to use one. pair of brushes for two pairs of rings, similar to other machines now in use.

I do not wish to be understood as claiming as new an armature with coils having their ends attached to a commutator ring composed of two separate segments, such being old. The distinguishing feature of my present invention lies in the peculiar construction of the commutator and the method of connecting the coils with the plates therein, so that each coil or group of coils, as the case may be, will be connected in series, and so that when any one coil or group of coils fails to generate a current or to exert such a degree of electromotive force as to fail to compensate for the resistance offered in such coil or group of coils to the current generated by the others, then such current will be free to pass around one or both of the segments of its corresponding comm utator-ring without passing through the coil, and this I efi'ect by forming a connection between the opposite brushes of a pair through the commutatonring, either by the shape or size of the segments composing said ring or by the peculiar construction or posi tion of the bearingbrushes themselves, the commutator as a whole being so placed with reference to the coil as to shunt or short-circuitthe currentarouud those coils only which are at the time inactive or exerting their minimum electrical effect. It follows from the method of connecting up coils above described that I obtain the maximum electromotive force of all the active coils with only the quantity of one.

I do not confine myself to the exact method of connecting each coil in the armature so that they will be brought in the exact succession shown, as it is obvious that either of their ends canbe reversed, so as to cause the current to flow in alternating directions and still pass through the brushes in series, there being, too, other methods of carrying out or applying this invention, tor which I design making future application for patent.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a dynamo or magneto electric machine, with the revolving armature and two-or more coils wound thereon, of brushes adapted to connect the same in series, and plates forming the rings of a com mutator, constructed or placed, as described, to form through any given ring a metallic connection. between the brushes of the coil belonging thereto at times when the said coil is passing the neutral points, as described.

2. A commutator-ling composed of two segments to which the two ends of an armaturecoil are connected, one or both of said segments being so formed as to extend more than one-halt way around the said ring, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A commutator composed of a ring or a series of rings, each of which is divided into two segments, to which segments or pair of segments the opposite ends of armature-coils are connected, in combination'with commutator-brushes, the relative arrangement of the said segments and brushes being such that both brushes belonging to each ring will be in contact with a single segment while the armature-coil belonging to such ring is passing the neutral points of its revolution, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a dynamo-electric mach'ine,two or more pairs of collecting brushes,in combination with comm utator-rings, each composed of two insulated metallic segments connecting with separate coils on the armature, and one or both of the segments of each pair being formed to extend to more than one-half way around the circumference of the ring, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

v ADDISOX G. WATERHOUSE. Witnesses JULIAN A. HURDLE, DANIEL A. SouUrLER. 

